2024-03-06 13:02:08
Copenhagen boss shows blue Sport his Swiss castle
Copenhagen co-owner Lars Seier Christensen once founded Saxo Bank with 30,000 pounds and later sold the shares for 280 million. He lives in the 750-year-old Schwarzenbach Castle near Wil SG. blue Sport visited him before his team’s blowout at Man City.
No time? blue Sport summarizes for you
- Lars Seier Christensen is a 61-year-old self-made multimillionaire, co-owner of FC Copenhagen and a Swiss citizen. The Dane lives in Schwarzenbach Castle near Wil SG.
- blue Sport visited Seier Christensen exclusively in his castle: there are around 10,000 bottles of wine in the wine cellar, a golden motorcycle decorates the room, a golf course surrounds the building and the fleet includes a Maserati, a Bentley or a Maybach.
- Seier Christensen also owns top international restaurants. About luxury he says: “I’m not a big fan of luxury, but I just like the good life. And in particular, I’m very interested in food, wine, art and things like that.”
Lars Seier Christensen (61) is in a good mood. Wearing a white FC Copenhagen sweater, he stands in front of Schwarzenbach Castle near Wil SG, which has existed since 1273. The extremely wealthy entrepreneur says it is the first time he has given an interview to a Swiss medium. The reason is that his team FC Copenhagen is playing against Manchester City in the Champions League – the first leg of the round of 16 ended 1:3.
Manchester City FC – FC Copenhagen
Mi 06.03. 19:55 – 00:00 ∙ blue Sport Live ∙ Manchester City FC – FC Copenhagen
The walls of the castle are impressive: 5,000 to 10,000 bottles are stored in the wine cellar, a golden motorcycle decorates the room, a golf course surrounds the area, everything from Maserati to Maybach to Ferrari and Bentley can be seen in its fleet. Christensen, the father of five daughters, grew up in the Danish middle class and worked for everything himself.
“I really enjoy it here, the people are very nice”
«About 14 years ago I thought it was time to move and we decided on Switzerland. I really enjoy it here. The people here, the village, everyone is very friendly and nice to us.” Did it have to be a castle? “No, not really, I just wanted a house with some land around it…” There is a golf course around the castle, built during the pandemic, “so I didn’t get bored while staying at home.”
The Dane Lars Seier Christensen lives in Schwarzenbach Castle near Wil SG.
Seier Christensen, who grew up in the middle class as the son of a teacher, became rich as a broker in London. He started at 23, has the right touch and is working his way up. Then he founded Saxo Bank, invested £30,000 – in 2018 he sold his shares for £280 million.
“Yes, it was a good investment,” he says, “but it also involved 26 years of hard work, so it wasn’t that easy.” Today he invests in 40 or 50 companies, including start-ups. And is happy about the success of his FC Copenhagen, in which he owns 22.5 percent. In the Champions League preliminary round, his team sensationally eliminated Manchester United and Galatasaray Istanbul and played 0-0 at Bayern Munich.
“I actually never wanted to buy into a football club”
“Actually, I always said that even if I made some money, I would never buy a football club because it would mean nothing but trouble. But then I got the chance to get involved in my favorite club, so I made an exception.” He has been involved as one of three main shareholders for around five years now. The club also includes several aqua parks and the national stadium. He doesn’t talk operationally. “We have a sensible management team, they don’t come and say, let’s buy Messi or Ronaldo.”
Phil Foden with Manchester City as a hurdle for Copenhagen.
Imago
Basically the goal is to become Danish champion every year, he says. “That is the starting point. We have been like that for the last two years. We would like to get into the Champions League and the group stage every other year. And the expectation for every season is to at least reach the group stage of the Europa League.”
Regarding the second leg in Manchester, he said: “It’s obviously a tough thing that we have to win away from home against perhaps the best club in the world by three goals. It was a shame that they scored 1-3 in the last minute.” Last season they played against ManCity in the group stage – a 0-0 draw at home after a 5-0 draw away. The best thing about the trip to Manchester, says Seier Christensen, was the restaurant. «The people in charge at Manchester City are very good hosts. They invited us to a Catalan restaurant owned by City management.” Naturally supported by the Catalan Pep Guardiola.
He sometimes goes to Wil games
Seier Christensen also has a connection to Swiss football. “Sometimes I go to FC Wil, I like the boys there. And yes, a player from Copenhagen came to Wil on loan once, but it didn’t work out so well.”
In Schwarzenbach, Seier Christensen also ensured that it was a stage location for the Tour de Suisse. “I organized it with the organizers and got involved financially to give joy to the people in the town.” Seier Christensen was also on the road for years alongside team boss Bjarne Riis with the Saxo Bank bike team – with his star Fabian Cancellara.
However, he doesn’t want to get involved financially in Swiss football: “No, I have no ambition to own more football clubs, neither in Switzerland nor elsewhere.”
Seier Christensen also owns top restaurants
What does he like about luxury? «I’m not a big fan of luxury, but I just like the good life. And in particular, I’m very interested in food, wine, art and things like that.” Seier Christensen also owns top international restaurants. Because he likes to eat – and because he also admires the work. «I have great respect for chefs. They are a bit like great athletes. They work very hard and disciplined to get to the top of their industry.”
What does he like about restaurants? “There are so many things in life in which you invest some money, in which you put some work, and only three, four or 26 years later do you know whether it was a success or not. But in a restaurant, four hours later, you either have happy customers or unhappy customers, and that’s somehow more immediate than a lot of other things you do. I like this aspect. It’s very gratifying when you can offer people a nice experience in the short term instead of waiting years for a company to be successful, right?” He likes to eat simple things like chili con carne. “My favorite dish, so I eat and cook it quite often.”
Cooking is more predictable than football. “You buy good ingredients, have a good recipe, stick to it and it usually comes out pretty well. In football there is a bit more luck and bad luck. I always say 70 to 80 percent of football is really the budget. 20 percent is strategy and dealing with the players correctly. And five to ten percent is luck. Does the ball bounce back off the post or does it go in? That’s nice, that’s charming, because if you knew that you would win every game just because you had a bigger budget, that would be pretty boring, right?”
Football: Manchester City FC – FC Copenhagen
Do 07.03. 12:50 – 15:45 ∙ blue Sport D 2 ∙ 175 Min
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